Erik Lie Says Backdating Actions Are Waning

Option-backdating enforcement emerged from hibernation last week, as the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two former executives of Monster Worldwide with rigging option grant dates and settled its case against Broadcom. In addition, Pixar's former CFO, now a director at Google, was revealed to be under investigation for backdating. But regulators are now focusing on the credit crisis. "I imagine this issue has mostly disappeared [as a priority among regulators]," said ERIK LIE, the University of Iowa professor whose research in 2005 touched off the investigations into backdating.